Accidents & Violence, Aging, Author Interviews, Cannabis, JAMA / 19.01.2024

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Patricia Di Ciano, PhD Scientist, Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology University of Toronto Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute Collaborative Program in Neuroscience MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: It is now fairly well established that cannabis has a detrimental effect on driving. The most consistently reported effect of cannabis on driving is to increase ‘weaving’ on the road. We know that cannabis use is on the rise in people over 65 years of age. In fact, over the past few years cannabis use is increasing the most in this age group. Despite this, there are few studies of the effects of cannabis on people over 65; most studies have been conducted on younger adults. We know that there are important age-related changes in the way the body works that may alter the impact of cannabis on the body. Also, older adults may have more experience with cannabis and this can change the effects of cannabis. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Kidney Disease, Salt-Sodium / 03.01.2024

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA Interim Chair, Department of Epidemiolog HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and Professor Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Director, Tulane University Obesity Research Center Director, Tulane Personalized Health Institute New Orleans, LA 70112 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Adding salt to foods is a behavior reflecting long-term preference to salty diets. High sodium intake is a major risk factor for chronic kidney disease. In our previous studies, we have found that adding salt to foods at the table is related to various disorders including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and mortality.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, JAMA, McGill, Mental Health Research / 06.11.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Niki Hosseini-Kamkar PhD Postdoc, McGill University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Our primary question was: Do adults with a history of childhood trauma have altered brain responses to psychological challenges? Previous evidence indicated that this can occur in laboratory animals, but it has been unclear whether it occurs in humans. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, ADHD, Author Interviews, Columbia, JAMA / 04.10.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Guohua Li, MD, DrPH Finster Professor of Epidemiology and Anesthesiology Columbia University Irving Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How was the ADHD diagnosis determined? Response: The reported prevalence of ADHD in children and young adults in the United States has more than doubled since the 1990s because of improved diagnosis.  Currently, ADHD affects about 13 percent of children under 18 years of age and eight percent of adults under 45 years of age.  Little is known about the prevalence of ADHD in older adults although it is estimated that ADHD symptoms may persist throughout the lifespan in about one-third of children diagnosed with the disorder.  Diagnostic criteria for adulthood ADHD include having five or more relevant symptoms, adverse impact on social, academic, and occupational activities,  and onset of symptoms before age 12. In this study, ADHD status is determined based on an affirmative response to the question of whether the participant had ever had ADHD or had ever been told by a doctor or other health professional that he or she had ADHD. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE, Pediatrics / 03.09.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Robert Eves Research Associate at Universität Bielefeld Honorary research fellow at the University of Warwick Guest researcher at DIW Berlin MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: When an infant is born their birthweight percentile is often calculated. This indicates how big the infant is relative to other infants born at the same gestational age (weeks of pregnancy). In long-term follow-up of at-risk infants, being born below the 10th percentile has been considered a risk factor for later cognitive development. However, we thought that this above or below the 10th percentile cut-off was unlikely to reflect the true association between birthweight percentiles and later cognitive development. First of all, we thought that it was unlikely that there would be a dramatic difference between someone born at the 9th vs. 11th percentile. Secondly, we wanted to determine if there was a point when birthweight percentiles could get too large (i.e is there a Goldilocks effect, maybe you should not be too small but not too big either) (more…)
Author Interviews, Columbia, Gender Differences, JAMA, OBGYNE, Surgical Research / 24.08.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jason D. Wright, MD, FACOG, FACS Sol Goldman Associate Professor Chief, Division of Gynecologic Oncology Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons New York, New York 10032 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There is growing recognition that gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is safe and that the procedures are associated with favorable long term outcomes. Prior work has explored the use of inpatient procedures and shown that the rates of GAS have risen, but there is little contemporaneous data to examine more recent inpatient and outpatient use of GAS. This is particularly important as changes in insurance regulations may have increased access for these procedures. We examined temporal trends in performance of inpatient and outpatient GAS and examined age-specific trends in the types of procedures performed over time. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Lipids, Pediatrics, USPSTF / 26.07.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Li Li, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H Walter M. Seward Professor Chair of Family Medicine Director of population health University of Virginia School of Medicine Editor-in-chief of The BMJ Family Medicine Dr. Li joined the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in January 2021 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The Task Force reviewed the latest available evidence to evaluate whether screening all children and adolescents who are 20 years old or younger for high cholesterol improves their heart health into adulthood. At this time, there is not enough evidence to determine whether or not screening all kids is beneficial, so we are calling for additional research on the effectiveness of screening and treatment of high cholesterol in kids and teens. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA / 20.07.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cassandra Kelleher, MD Surgical Director, Fetal Care Program Surgical Director, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Physician Investigator (Cl) Surgery, Mass General Research Institute Associate Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Physicians practicing in academic hospitals have unique responsibilities. They are not only expected to treat patients, but also to conduct research to improve treatments for future patients, and to train future physicians. Diverse healthcare teams have better patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs. Women physicians, for example, are more likely to practice patient-centered care, and through their teaching and research work at academic medical centers, they help to disseminate and normalize novel approaches to practicing medicine. For these reasons, gender diversity in academic medicine is important for the quality of healthcare in the future. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE / 07.07.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dorothy A. Fink, MD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women's Health Director, Office on Women's Health US Department of Health & Human Services Rockville, MD MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Delivery-related mortality in U.S. hospitals has decreased for all racial and ethnic groups, age groups, and modes of delivery while the prevalence of severe maternal mortality (SMM) increased for all patients, with higher rates for racial and ethnic minority patients of any age. This study specifically looked at inpatient delivery-related outcomes and found a 57% decrease from 2008-2021. The decreasing mortality rates within the inpatient delivery setting demonstrated as statistically significant and a welcome finding for all women. This study also looked with greater granularity at the impact of race, ethnicity, and age. Mortality for American Indian women decreased 92%, Asian women decreased 73%, Black women decreased 76%, Hispanic women decreased 60%, Pacific Islander women decreased 79%, and White women decreased 40% during the study period. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA, NYU, USPSTF / 09.05.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH Dr. Adolph & Margaret Berger Professor of Population Health Director, Division of Health & Behavior Director Center for Healthful Behavior Change Department of Population Health NYU Langone Health NYU School of Medicine Member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection that is spread through the air from one person to another and usually affects the lungs. It’s a significant public health concern in the U.S. People can be infected with TB bacteria but not have any symptoms or be contagious, which is known as a latent TB infection or LTBI. If LTBI is left untreated, it can progress to active TB, which can cause serious health problems and become contagious. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, NCI, Ovarian Cancer / 21.04.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lauren Hurwitz, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics National Cancer Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prior studies have demonstrated that frequent (i.e., daily or near daily) use of aspirin is associated with a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer. We sought to determine if this risk reduction is also observed for individuals with greater genetic susceptibility to ovarian cancer, who may benefit more from preventive interventions. Our study found that individuals who took aspirin frequently had a lower risk of ovarian cancer, regardless of whether they had higher or lower genetic susceptibility to ovarian cancer. (more…)
ADHD, Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, University of Michigan / 18.04.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sean Esteban McCabe, PhD Director, Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences University of Michigan School of Nursing Ann Arbor, MI MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prescription stimulant therapy for ADHD helps millions of people, including in my own family, and students, friends and colleagues. It's critical to balance the need for access to these medications while reducing the risk for misuse. This is more important than ever now because there have been recent increases in the prescribing of stimulant therapy for ADHD. There is a need to understand the prevalence of stimulant therapy for ADHD and prescription stimulant misuse in U.S. middle and high schools. (more…)
Author Interviews, Coffee, Genetic Research, JAMA, Kidney Disease / 15.02.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Sara Mahdavi, PhD Clinical Scientist and Clinical Instructor Research Appointment in the Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto Toronto, ON MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This was a long-term study spanning 16 years and began with a population of young adults who were medically assessed on a regular basis. It was remarkable to see just how striking the effects of coffee were in the group that had the susceptible genetic variant, what we termed “slow caffeine metabolizers” yet no effect whatsoever in those who did not were termed “fast metabolizers”. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Pharmaceutical Companies, Yale / 22.01.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Neeraj Patel Medical Student (MS-2), Yale School of Medicine New Haven, CT MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising has been increasing in popularity for the past two decades or so, particularly via television. But it’s highly controversial. Only two high-income countries (the U.S. and New Zealand) widely permit this type of advertising for prescription drugs. Critics have pointed to a growing body of literature that suggests that direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs can be misleading, lead to inappropriate prescribing, and inflate healthcare costs. Proponents have argued that it improves public health by promoting clinically beneficial prescribing. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Emory, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 29.11.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chris A. Rees, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine Research Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Emory University School of Medicine Attending Physician, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Research Scientist, CHAMPS, U.S. Program Office  and Eric W. Fleegler, MD, MPH, FAAP Associate in Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine Director Sedation Service Boston Children’s Hospital Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Rates of firearm fatalities in the United States have reached a 28-year high. Yet, an understanding of the specific demographic groups who have been most affected, and where in the United States these fatalities have occurred, has not been clearly described in the past. (more…)
Addiction, Alcohol, Author Interviews, Cannabis, Education, JAMA, Pediatrics, Social Issues, UCLA / 06.10.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mitchell Wong, MD PhD Professor of Medicine Executive Vice Chair for Research Training Department of Medicine Executive Co-Director, Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program Director, UCLA CTSI KL2 Program UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research Los Angeles, CA 90024 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: It is estimated that social factors like poverty, education, and housing have a large impact on health. Yet, there are few interventions that exist to directly address those issues.  Schools are a promising solution since society already invests heavily in education and schools are an everyday part of most children’s lives. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Frailty, Geriatrics, JAMA / 22.09.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ariela Orkaby, MD, MPH Geriatrics & Preventive Cardiology Associate Epidemiologist Division of Aging, Brigham and Women's Hospital Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: As the population is living longer, there is increased risk of frailty and vulnerability. Frailty is defined as reduced physiological reserve and decreased ability to cope with even an acute stress. Up to half of adults over the age of 85 are living with frailty and preventative measures are greatly needed. We tested the effect of vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on the risk of developing frailty in healthy older adults in the US enrolled in the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) trial. (more…)
Author Interviews, Geriatrics, JAMA / 15.09.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jing Li, PhD Assistant Professor of Health Economics The Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy and Economics (CHOICE) Institute University of Washington School of Pharmacy MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Dementia and other cognitive impairment are highly prevalent among older adults in the U.S. and globally, and have been linked to deficiencies in decision-making, especially financial decision-making. However, little is known about the extent to which older adults with cognitive impairment manage their own finances and the characteristics of the assets they manage. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA / 03.08.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lisa A. Cosimi, MD Division of Infectious Diseases Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: Response: Current CDC COVID-19 isolation guidance allows for ending isolation after day 5 for non-immunocompromised individuals if they are afebrile and with improving symptoms, or if the individual is asymptomatic from the start. It has been proposed that rapid antigen tests (RATs) may assist in determining when individuals are no longer infectious. Specifically, a negative test would be potentially reassuring for an individual not being transmissible, while a positive test could be suggestive of continued infectiousness.  However, there is little data about use of RATs in this particular setting and how they may correlate with ongoing risk of transmission as they were developed to be used during the initial diagnosis of infection, not in the later phase. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 10.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marquita W. Lewis-Thames, PhD (she/her/Dr.) Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Social Science Center for Community Health, Member Researcher Assistant Directors of Community Outreach and Engagement, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  Response: Incidence, mortality, and survivorship provide a comprehensive description of cancer for a group of people. Differences in cancer incidence and mortality trends by rural-urban status and race and ethnicity are well documented, but urban-rural cancer survivorship trends by race and ethnicity are unknown. To this end, we examined almost 40 years of racial and ethnic differences by rural-urban status for 5-year survival of patients with lung, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers. Using a nationwide epidemiological assessment of 1975-2011 data from the SEER database, we found that 5-year cancer-specific survival trends increased for all cancer types and race and ethnic groups, regardless of rural or urban status. Generally, rural, and non-Hispanic Black cancer patients had worse survival outcomes than others. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gout, JAMA, Kidney Disease / 06.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Csaba P Kovesdy MD FASN Fred Hatch Professor of Medicine Director, Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Nephrology Section Chief, Memphis VA Medical Center Memphis TN, 38163 MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  Response: Hyperuricemia has unfavorable metabolic effects and has been associated with higher risk of progressive kidney disease and mortality. Despite this, earlier clinical trials have failed to prove a beneficial impact on kidney disease progression from uric acid lowering therapy in patients with preexisting CKD. The effect of uric acid lowering therapy on the development of new onset CKD in patients with normal kidney function has not been well studied. In our large observational study we did not find a beneficial association between newly initiated uric acid lowering therapy (the majority of which was in the form of allopurinol). On the contrary, uric acid lowering therapy was associated with a slightly higher risk of new onset low eGFR and new onset albuminuria, especially in patients with less elevated baseline serum acid levels. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 16.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susannah G. Rowe, MD, MPH Office of Equity, Vitality and Inclusion Boston University Medical Group Boston Medical Center Boston University School of Medicine Boston, Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: We wanted to learn how frequently mistreatment occurs for clinicians at work and how it impacts their occupational well-being. We began to see more anecdotal reports of workplace mistreatment of clinicians even before the pandemic. In the extraordinarily stressful environment we are currently experiencing, with people feeling exhausted and emotionally threadbare on some level, the problem appears to be growing. We also predicted that the burden of mistreatment would not borne be equally. It has often been said that we are all in the same storm but in different boats – some of us are riding out the storm in comfortable ocean liners, while others are paddling in canoes without life jackets. What we are learning, though, is that we are not in fact experiencing the same storm. For example, the increasing intolerance and erosion of public civility we have seen in recent years might show up as minor annoyances for some of us, and actual threats of violence for others depending in large part on our gender and racialized identities. Our relationship to privilege and oppression affects our experiences, creating protections or additional burdens, so when studying clinician occupational well-being, it seemed important to consider how these disparities play out in the workplace.  (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Hearing Loss, JAMA / 04.05.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Archelle Georgiou, MD Chief Health Officer for Starkey Starkey Hearing Technologies Eden Prairie, Minnesota MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: In August 2021, Starkey introduced a vaccination incentive program for employees in the U.S. to provide education on COVID-19 and encourage vaccinations. The program encouraged employees to watch and acknowledge online educational information and report their vaccination status. Those fully vaccinated and who submitted proof of vaccination by September 2021, including employees who were vaccinated prior to the incentive announcement, received $1,000.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics, Social Issues / 13.04.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Regina Triplett, M.D., M.S. Developmental Neuroscience Post-Doctoral Research Scholar Department of Neurology Washington University in St. Louis, MO  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  Response: This is an ongoing, longitudinal, prospective study of 399 pairs of mothers studied throughout pregnancy and their infants, designed to investigate exposure to early life adversity (prenatal poverty and stress) on infant brain development and behavior in early childhood. We examined measures of maternal socioeconomic status including neighborhood factors and stress/mental health during pregnancy in relation to data from infant brain MRI scans conducted in the first weeks after birth. We found that poverty during pregnancy is associated with reduced size and folding of infant brains. We found these associations across the whole brain and not specific to one region. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Surgical Research, Technology / 22.03.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ali M. Fazlollahi, MSc, McGill Medicine Class of 2025 Neurosurgical Simulation and Artificial Intelligence Learning Centre Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences McGill University, Montreal, Canada MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: COVID-19 disrupted hands on surgical exposure of medical students and academic centres around the world had to quickly adapt to teaching technical skills remotely. At the same time, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) allowed researchers at the Neurosurgical Simulation and Artificial Intelligence Learning Centre to develop an intelligent tutoring system that evaluates performance and provides high-quality personalized feedback to students. Because this is the first AI system capable of providing surgical instructions in simulation, we sought to evaluate its effectiveness compared with learning from expert human instructors who provided coaching remotely. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Social Issues / 15.03.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Arman A. Shahriar Medical Student, University of Minnesota Medical School Research Consultant, HealthPartners Institute Minneapolis, MinnesotaArman A. Shahriar Medical Student, University of Minnesota Medical School Research Consultant, HealthPartners Institute Minneapolis, Minnesota

  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  Response: In recent years there has been a significant focus on the diversity of medical students, but to date, most work has focused on ‘visible’ forms of diversity; such as race, ethnicity and gender. (more…)
Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, JAMA, Kidney Disease / 15.03.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susan P. Y. Wong, MD MS Assistant Professor Division of Nephrology University of Washington VA Puget Sound Health Care System  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings? Response: Very little is known about the care and outcomes of patients who reach the end stages of kidney disease and do not pursue dialysis. We conducted a systematic review of longitudinal studies on patients with advanced kidney disease who forgo dialysis to determine their long-term outcomes. We found that many patients survived several years and experienced sustained quality of life until late in the illness course. However, use of acute care services was common and there was a high degree of variability in access to supportive care services near the end of life. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE, STD / 16.02.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Irene A. Stafford, M.S., M.D. Associate Professor Associate Program Director Maternal - Fetal Medicine Fellowship Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? Response: We have observed disproportionately high-rates syphilis in the US over the last several years, and here in Texas. As this is now leading to health alerts in our cities, it is key we bring attention to this infection regarding risks to the pregnant patient and her fetus. Syphilis carries a nearly 40% neonatal mortality rate, so testing and treating is key in preventing this devastating neonatal infection. We need to encourage and offer testing at intake to pregnancy care, and any time a patient desires to be tested for STI.   (more…)